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Saturday Rundown: Annecy, Toblach, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

NorAm Mini Tour (Rossland, B.C.): Freestyle sprints On Day 2 of NorAm racing in Rossland, British Columbia, Julien Locke, of the Black Jack Ski Club and Canadian National U25 Team, won the men’s 1.4-kilometer freestyle sprint final on his home trails by just one-hundredth of a second over Evan Palmer-Charrette, of the National Team Development Centre (NTDC) Thunder Bay, in 2:38.13. NTDC Thunder Bay had two on the podium with Julian Smith in third, 0.4...

Friday Rundown: Annecy, St. Ulrich, Rossland (Updated)

IBU World Cup (Annecy, France): Men’s 10 k sprint (Note: This rundown has been updated to include quotes from US Biathlon’s Tim Burke and Sean Doherty.) Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø racked up his third-straight individual win of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup season on Friday (and fourth non-relay win of 2017/2018), topping the men’s 10-kilometer sprint in Annecy, France. And he did so in head-turning fashion, beating French superstar Martin Fourcade, the race’s...

Wednesday Workout: Journaling and Time Trials with Anne Hart

Coming off ajetted to a victory in the first SuperTour race of 2017/2018 — the freestyle sprint in West Yellowstone, Montana. “I haven’t straight out won a highly competitive race in two years, so winning on my arch nemesis course of West Yellowstone was huge,” Hart, 25, wrote in an email last week about her Dec. 2 sprint win. “I know that the period one altitude is not my best friend, and am really working...

Notes and Quotes from the U.S. Ski Team’s Davos Weekend

It was a busy weekend for the U.S. Ski Team in Davos, Switzerland, with some successes and some not-so-great races. Kikkan Randall returned to the podium, and six different women had top-20 results – including two each from Randall, Jessie Diggins, and Sadie Bjornsen. Sprinter Simi Hamilton had his first top-10 of the season. We’ve already posted our race reports – for the men’s sprint, men’s 15 k – but for even more from the...

Sunday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen and Sovereign

NorAm/SuperTour (Sovereign Lake near Vernon, British Columbia): 10/15 k freestyle VERNON, B.C. — The combined NorAm and SuperTour event at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre continued with individual-start distance races and continued with the theme of U.S. domination of the leaderboard. Ian Torchia, of Northern Michigan University (NMU) and the U.S. Ski Team D-team, started the day with a big victory in the men’s 15 k freestyle, finishing in 36:29.7 minutes and on the heels...

Saturday Rundown: Davos, Hochfilzen and Sovereign (Updated)

NorAm/SuperTour (Sovereign Lake near Vernon, British Columbia): Classic sprints On the opening day of the NorAm Continental Cup series in Canada (which doubled as a U.S. SuperTour), American Kaitlynn Miller of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) started Saturday with a nearly three-second win in the classic-sprint qualifier at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, then went on to win her quarterfinal and semifinal before topping the final as well. Miller was the fastest women’s qualifier...

America’s top skiers hit Kincaid Park January 3-8 ANCHORAGE, AK (Courtesy of U.S. Ski & Snowboard) – Top cross-country skiers from across America will compete for national titles, FIS Junior World Championship spots and potential Olympic berths at the 2018 L.L. Bean U.S. Cross Country Championships January 3-8. All events will take place at Kincaid Park. U.S. Ski & Snowboard will also carry a live stream of the events on its Facebook page (www.facebook.com/usskiandsnowboard/). Alaska...

Over 100 athletes from more than 20 countries compete in biggest event since the Olympics WHISTLER, BC — Whistler Olympic Park is getting ready to host the biggest ski jumping event since the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, with a FIS Cup Ski Jumping on December 7 & 8 and a FIS Continental Cup Ski Jumping on December 9 & 10. Over 100 ski jumpers from over 20 nations will compete on the park’s normal hill. There...

Sunday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

US SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Montana): 10/15 k classic mass starts The second day of SuperTour racing took place as originally planned at the Rendezvous Ski Trails in West Yellowstone, with 22-year-old Hedda Bångman, of the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), and 33-year-old Brian Gregg (Team Gregg) winning the women’s 10-kilometer and men’s 15 k classic mass starts, respectively, on Sunday. Bångman, a Swedish freshman on the second in Saturday’s skate sprint) in third (+4.6). Kyle Bratrud (CXC...

Saturday Rundown: Lillehammer; Östersund; West Yellowstone (Updated)

US SuperTour (West Yellowstone, Montana): Freestyle sprints Anne Hart and Nick Michaud were the big winners on opening day of the US SuperTour season at the Rendezvous Ski Trails on Saturday, taking individual victories in the women’s and men’s freestyle sprint finals, respectively. Hart led into the finishing straight to take the win in 2:52.49 minutes, 0.88 seconds ahead of Erika Flowers, her teammate on the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) Elite Team, who placed second, and...

Tchekaleva, Dotsenko, Zaitseva Banned from Olympics; Number of Cases Grows to 36

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has handed down three more lifetime Olympic bans to two Russian cross-country skiers and a biathlete, all of which are women, based on the Oswald Commission hearings concerning Russia’s systematic doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Cross-country skiers Yulia Tchekaleva and Anastasia Dotsenko and biathlete Olga Zaitseva have been sanctioned, according to an IOC press release on Friday. “More hearings concerning other athletes will be held over the next few...

‘After Much Deliberation’, West Yellowstone to Host SuperTour Opener This Weekend

The show will go on in West Yellowstone, Montana. After organizers of the Yellowstone Ski Festival (YSF) announced in an e-blast on Monday that the West Yellowstone SuperTour, set for this coming weekend, was canceled due to “damage done to the snowpack from the significant rainfall over the past few days,” it’s back on — according to a trail conditions.” As of Wednesday morning, there was no rain in West Yellowstone’s forecast, but rather a...

Lunder 19th in Sjusjøen; Beaudry and Campbell Fourth in IBU Cup Relay

Three Canadians and one American competed at last week’s International Biathlon Union (IBU) Cup opener in in Sjusjøen, Norway, with Canada’s Emma Lunder posting an individual top 20 and her teammates Sarah Beaudry and Carsen Campbell teaming up to place fourth in the single mixed relay on Sunday, Nov. 26. In an email, Biathlon Canada High Performance Director Roddy Ward explained that Canada did not send its National “Z” Team, arrived in Europe on Nov....

Sunday Rundown: Kalla, Klæbo Take Ruka Triple Crowns; Austria, Norway Top Biathlon Relays

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): 10/15 k freestyle pursuit Men’s report Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla took down the fiercest contender women’s cross-country skiing has ever seen, challenging Norway’s Marit Bjørgen on the final lap of the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit on Sunday then successfully holding her off to the finish. Kalla entered the final day of the three-day Ruka Triple mini tour with a 2-second lead on Bjørgen out of the pursuit start. Bjørgen...

Saturday Rundown: Bjørgen, Klæbo Dominate Ruka Day 2; Diggins 10th; Fletcher Gets 2nd Top 20

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): 10/15 k classic Men’s report On Day 2 of the Ruka Triple World Cup opener on Saturday, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen collected a 17-second victory in the women’s 10-kilometer classic individual start in Kuusamo, Finland. Bjørgen started 30th of nearly 90 women and was contested by one other: Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in bib 44. Kalla clocked through the 3.1 and 6.2 k checkpoints faster than Bjørgen, but the Norwegian’s...

Friday Rundown: Sadie Bjornsen Opens with Career-Best Second in Ruka

FIS Cross Country World Cup (Kuusamo, Finland): Classic sprints Men’s race report In the first race of the 2017/2018 cross-country World Cup season, U.S. Ski Team (USST) member Sadie Bjornsen, who turned 28 on Tuesday, raced to the best result of her career, placing second to Sweden’s Stina Nilsson in Friday’s classic sprint in Kuusamo, Finland. Last season, Bjornsen notched her first World Cup podium in third place in the 5-kilometer freestyle in Toblach, Italy,...

World Cup Windup: Canada

Welcome to World Cup Windup, where we check in with the top-10 teams from last year’s FIS Cross Country World Cup tour before the season starts with the Ruka Triple in Kuusamo, Finland, on Nov. 24. Last but not least, Canada! CANADA Overall in Nations Cup Last Year: 10th Women’s Ranking 2016/2017: 14th Men’s Ranking 2016/2017: Sixth Who’s Back: Alex Harvey, World Champion, runner-up in the Distance Cup, and third in the overall World Cup;...